BVWS Spring Bulletin

[ppppenguin]

Yorkie mentiioned the Spring Bulletin here: http://golbornevintageradio.co.uk/forum/...p?tid=5359

This one has some really meaty articles. There is the usual quota of restorations by our champion restorers (take a bow, Gary) plus some unusual articles. The VCR97 TV and Steve Harris's OB truck are of special interest to me while the Mullard history is a fascinating document for everyone.

Definitely an issue to remember., with maximum credit to Carl and all the contributors.

[Radio Fixer]

Steve Harris's restoration of the OB Truck eclipses anything anyone has ever done and written about in the Bulletin. Its truly a mammoth effort and I'm awed by it. He even spent time and lots of effort passing the HGV test so he can drive it himself. To me its kinda crazy, and he admits that in the article so I'm not being nasty, its just something that very very few could ever contemplate.

Not only restoring the vehicle, including steel mudguard riveted to an ali body with consequent corrosion, but electronics that had years of the vehicle being stored in leaking premises (barns, shacks !) with water running into them.

He's a hero !

Gary

[ppppenguin]

I've known Steve Harris for many years and admired his determination. AFAIK the only other person in the UK to have successfully undertaken an ambitious OB truck project on that scale is Paul Marshall. Beamcurrent (Brian Summers) has a big vintage OB truck as a long term project and a few people have smaller trucks.

[Yorkie]

It never fails to amaze me how people have the enthusiasm and drive to take on the most daunting of tasks.

From 1994 to 2000, when the lease on the premises ran out, Steve Harris set up and ran a Vintage Wireless Museum with lots of vintage broadcasting gear on show. Most of the collection went to the BBC. Steve has a link to pics of the former museum, (which had 25,000 visitors), on his 'On The Air' website).

I guess that (in the nicest possible way), undertaking daunting long-term projects is a form of 'OCD' or what some would call 'eccentricity' but it makes the world a better place and long may it continue.

I have a friend who - many years ago - bought two scrap MGBGT cars - both rotting heaps. He's spent every waking hour making one good one out of them, but sadly, he's now quite ill and it's a project he won't live to see the end of.  Bodywork done, engine and gearbox restored and installed, doors and window winders restored,  brakes and steering all in, most electrics and fuel supply done, instrumentation and upholstery and spraying still to do. Self-taught - he was a chef by trade. Triple by-pass 15 years ago, one lung removed, and he still soldier on. What a guy.

[Terry]

I think we all admire the stamina of people who take on such mammoth projects. Some require a lot of manpower - such as the rusty hulks recovered from Woodham's Scrapyard on Barry Island and now fully restored to steam and hauling trains on our Heritage Railways and some, of course, on the main line.

Bus restoration is probably on a par with an OB van, although if that includes the upholstery and varnished wood interior, it almost certainly requires the assistance of people with specialised skills in that area.

There is a single decker Bristol bus nearing completion at the Lincoln Transport Museum which I've been following for several years. On this particular body the cab area and destination blind box are all beautifully flowing curves with several pieces of timber mated together. It was also completely rotten and to see the craftsmanship involved in replacing the wood and grafting it into the remaining sound timber was fascinating. In a way it is a shame that the outer body skin now covers up all of this up and nobody will ever see it again!

If anybody is looking around it for the first time when I'm up there, I usually tell them that when I first saw that bus it was in two piles - one of sawdust and one of rust!

Details of some of the more recent restoration activity can be seen here but, alas, there are no details of that intricate curved wooden body frame although some of the pictures 'with its clothes on' give you some idea.

[ppppenguin]

OB units were sometimes built on bus chassis. Such as Paul Marshall's "Southern": http://www.golden-agetv.co.uk/img/equipment/95b.jpg

The big difference between a bus and an OB unit is all the kit. Even when the vehicle itself has been made roadworthy and sound, there's a vast amount of electronics on board. As Steve Harris found, this brings its own challenges. At least much of it can be removed from the vehicle to be restored in comfort.